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We are much farther along most (any) of us thought possible at the start of the season.

That's right - you heard me: B-R-A-C-K-E-T-O-L-O-G-Y!! That's becase our ol' buddy Joe "Joey Brackets" Lunardi of ESPN actually has ORU in his most recent bracket projection, playing a 16-seed play-in game in Dayton vs. Jackson State, presumably just because ORU is currently in first place in the league standings: http://m.espn.com/ncb/bracketology?iteration=195&region=2&year=2018 I think you will all agree this probably says more about how little thought Joe puts into the low-major teams in his bracket projections than it does whether ORU is a legitimate contender in Sioux Falls. But, hey - so what? It's still kinda fun to be in the conversation, albeit prematurely.

It's the ONLY way to explain how TU made the 2016 NCAA tournament as a 12-seed, after finishing the AAC regular season in a 3-way tie for THIRD, then losing in the first-round of the AAC tournament. No WAY that happens if they are in C-USA, The Valley, etc.

Connecticut is the school that has put the AAC in the premier ranks of college basketball, with their 4 national titles since 1999 (more than Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas or Michigan State during that span) and their symbiotic relationship with ESPN ("The Worldwide Leader In Sports" got its humble start back in the 70's as the "KGEB" of UConn athletics).

Supposedly ORU offered a different Baylor assistant first who turned it down. Honestly, I've seen a lot of Baylor over the years and they NEVER came across as tough, smart and unselfish to me. But that is exactly what this team is. Granted, sometimes you can have too much talent and egos poison the pudding. But I'm a big believer in teams taking on the personality of the coach. We also happen to have several really high character kids. I've met all of them and there isn't a knucklehead in the group.

Joe Lunardi isn’t lazy. He just is really impressed by this ORU squad and so am I. Play in game here we come...

I think we threw it down the court to minimize the possibility of them fouling us and eliminate the three point play.

Winning at home and splitting on the road is a great recipe for winning a conference championship. Having played the conference favorite toe-to-toe on their home court gives me great hope for some Summit road wins in the future. Frankly, our toughest three road games are tonight and the next two, so any win in the Dakotas would be a great start to splitting all Summit road games.

Good fight......tough loss.

Get the ball inside....

Miller's 3 fouls hurt..... ORU shooting 25% from 3 versus 41% for SDSU....ORU could of really opened this game up Ruder looks rusty as to be expected